Johnny got a stay of execution!

The new Year and the new Millennium opened with the news we had hoped so much to hear!

On Wed. Dec. 29th Johnny Paul Penry got a stay of the execution which had been scheduled for Jan. 13th 2000. As a matter of fact, the panel of judges of the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals decided to set a hearing for Feb. 10th in New Orleans. At that hearing Penry's lawyers will present arguments supporting a permanent stay of execution The appeal to be presented by Johnny's lawyers signals first of all his evident mental retardation. It also asks the court to consider Penry's "terribly abusive" background, as well as questions about his sentencing and how police extracted a signed confession.

We see this as a remarkable outcome, or better still, as a real miracle.

This is why we want to thank all those who, concretely and in different ways, joined us in the attempt to save his life. We invite everyone to continue every effort to reach our goal: to obtain the commutation of the death-sentence into a life-sentence.

We also thank all those who joined our prayers for Johnny's life and the life of the other inmates on death row, and we thank all those who will do that in the days to come.